1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid stirring device.
2. Related Art
There are known ink supply systems which supply ink to an ejection head capable of ejecting ink from an ink tank storing ink via an ink supply tube. When such ink supply systems are used, when ink supply is not performed for a long period of time after the supply of ink to the ejection head, components which are contained in the ink which remains in the flow passage of the ink supply tube precipitate in some cases. When the components contained in the ink precipitate, it is not possible to stably supply ink to the ejection head when ink is again supplied to the ejection head, or an ejection error may be caused.
Particularly, when inorganic pigments (for example, titanium oxide), metal pigments (for example, aluminum) or the like are contained as components in the ink, there is a problem in that these pigments easily precipitate in view of differences in the specific gravity between the pigments and the solvent.
Regarding this problem, for example, in JP-A-2006-272648, there is a description of an ink supply system which is provided with a sub-tank to always hold a certain amount of ink in an ink flow passage. In addition, in JP-A-2006-272648, there is a description of a stirring ball which is provided in the sub-tank in order to stir the ink in the sub-tank. Due to the provision of the sub-tank, it is possible to reduce the amount of precipitated components, such as a pigment, which is contained in ink.
However, in the related art in JP-A-2006-272648, the stirring ball is difficult to move in the sub-tank, or liquid stirring efficiency is reduced in some cases.